Elul 24 and 25, 5774

Tomorrow night is S'lichot, the holiday when we "officially" begin the High Holy Days. If you are lucky enough to receive these Elul Reflections, you have been preparing since late August. Nevertheless, tomorrow night is the kickoff. It is a long, slow trek from S'lichot to Yom Kippur and on through Simchat Torah. It all starts tomorrow.

Meanwhile, enjoy the double portion of Elul Reflections:

Elul 24

At the start of moments that are incredible, weddings and baby namings and bar and bat mitzvah ceremonies, we turn to words of liturgy: May God bless you and keep you; May you always draw comfort from a close relationship with God; May a loving God guide your steps and inspire your decisions and may our lives be filled with peace.

 

Now we gather at the twilight of this year, and I can borrow language from Jewish liturgy to capture this moment: "I confess that I have left much undone, yet I know also the good that I did and the good that I tried to do. May my acts of goodness give meaning to my life, and may my errors be forgiven." How have your acts of goodness, as opposed to errors, given meaning to your life in 5774?

 

Elul 25

Three Questions

I once heard a story about a rabbi who was stopped by a Russian soldier while he walking in his shtetl. The soldier aims his rifle at the rabbi and demands, "Who are you? Where are you going? Why are you going there?"

Completely calm and unfazed, the rabbi asks, "How much do they pay you?" A bit surprised, the soldier responds, "Twenty­-five kopecks a month." The rabbi pauses, and in a deeply thoughtful manner says, "I have a proposal for you. I'll pay you fifty kopecks each month if you stop me here every day and challenge me to respond to those same
three questions."